Hunter Moore

Hunter Moore (born March 9, 1986) is an American internet entrepreneur and convicted criminal from Sacramento, California. Rolling Stone called him "the most hated man on the Internet."[1][2][3] His (now defunct) "revenge porn" website Is Anyone Up? allowed users to post sexual and explicit photos of people online without their consent, often accompanied by personal information such as their name and address. He refused to take down pictures on request.[2] Moore called himself "a professional life ruiner" and compared himself to Charles Manson.[4] The website was up for 16 months, during which Moore stated several times he was protected by the same laws that protect Facebook.[1] Moore also paid a hacker to break into email accounts of victims and steal private photos to post.[5] The FBI started an investigation on Moore in 2012 after receiving evidence from the mother of one of the victims.[4] The site was closed in April 2012 and sold to an anti-bullying group.[6] In February 2015, Moore pleaded guilty to felony charges for aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting in the unauthorized access of a computer. In December 2015, Moore was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, a $2,000 fine, and $145.70 in restitution.[7]

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Moore started the website in 2010. It featured revealing photos and videos of real men and women, linked to their social networking profiles on Facebook or Twitter.[8] Many of the subjects were outraged by inclusion on the site, claiming the explicit photos had been hacked from their personal computers or shared with former boyfriends or girlfriends, and that the photos had been posted as a form of revenge. Because of this, the site's content became known as "revenge porn." Moore reportedly responded to multiple cease-and-desist letters with simply "LOL” and would regularly argue that the law protected his activities.[1]

Moore claimed that the website attracted 30 million page views monthly as well as yielding $8,000 to $13,000 a month in ad revenue.[2][9] In response to public bragging by Moore about the website, BBC named Moore "the Net's most hated man" and Rolling Stone called him "the most hated man on the Internet."[2][1]

Moore eventually faced numerous lawsuits and an FBI investigation.[10][11] He was also stabbed in the shoulder with a pen by a woman who had been featured on the site.[11][12][1]

On April 19, 2012, Moore sold the website to an anti-bullying group.[13] He posted an open letter explaining his decision.

Charlotte Laws, the mother of one of the victims on the site, decided to track Moore down and conducted a two-year investigation where she compiled evidence from more than 40 victims and gave it to the FBI.[4]

In 2012, Moore and a colleague hacker named Charles Evens (who went under the alias of "Gary Jones") were suspected of hacking-related crimes.[14]The Wire stated that "on multiple occasions, [Moore] paid Evens to break into the email accounts of victims and steal nude photos to post on the website isanyoneup.com."[5] When it became apparent to Moore that news about his FBI investigation was beginning to surface to the public, Moore responded with "I will literally fucking buy a first-class fucking plane ticket right now, eat an amazing meal, buy a gun in New York, and fucking kill whoever [talked about my FBI investigation]. I'm that pissed over it. I'm actually mad right now."[14]

Moore also threatened to burn down The Village Voice headquarters if they ran a story about his FBI investigation. They nevertheless ran the story.[14]

Moore was released two days later from Sacramento County Jail on a $100,000 bond. He is allowed no access to the Internet and is required by law to dismantle the archives he owns for the Is Anyone Up? database while the FBI monitors him doing so.[16]

On January 24, 2015, exactly one year since Moore had last tweeted, tweets began to appear on his account making it seem like he had returned to the internet. Moore's mother revealed that his account was either taken over or hacked and he had nothing to do with the tweets.[17]

On February 18, 2015, Moore entered a guilty plea with the Central District of California U.S. Attorney's Office, in which he admitted to aiding and abetting hacking, and aggravated identity theft. Under the plea, he would serve a minimum of two years in prison, and a maximum of seven years and a $500,000 fine.[18]

In February 2015, Moore plead guilty to aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting in the unauthorized access of a computer. In addition to his mandatory prison sentence, Moore also agreed to a three-year period of supervised probation, a $2,000 fine and $145.70 in restitution.[7] He also received an order that he delete all the data on his seized computers.[19] Moore was sentenced to 2 ½ years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.[20]

On July 2, 2015, Charles Evens pleaded guilty to charges of computer hacking and identity theft, confessing to stealing hundreds of images from women's email accounts and selling them to Moore. He faces up to seven years in a federal prison and was sentenced on November 16, 2015. Moore was sentenced in September.[21] By May 2017, Moore was out of prison.[22]